


Treasure

by trainmaker



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Drinking, Kisses, M/M, Magic, Magical Creatures, Ram Tubbo, thieves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:22:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29670672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trainmaker/pseuds/trainmaker
Summary: thief ranboo comes across a caged creature. he sets it free. :)a fairy-tale
Relationships: Ranboo/Toby Smith | Tubbo
Comments: 18
Kudos: 187





	Treasure

Ranboo stole through the alley, navigating deftly around stoops and crates stacked haphazardly. It was the cusp of sunset and dying light cut harsh edges out of the detritus of the city. Each barrel left to the wayside threatened to be a city guard or vengeful mark. Ranboo's metal hand grazed the sheath at his waist as he came to the mouth of the arcade. The city was mostly shuttered, turning to their dinners and prayer and bed. Ranboo didn't know how they could close out such a brilliant night, so rife with opportunity and life. He had a pocket full of the evening's spoils and the east quarter of the city was sure to be thrumming with life.

He figured that thievery was as good a means as any to redistribute wealth. The way he saw it, he was stimulating the economy. The rich people in the south quarter held their coin too close and he couldn't help but find a better use for it. And maybe the magic helped. A little thrall or illusion to draw the eye and he could slip his hand into just about anybody's purse. That of course, was the caveat. If he was caught, he'd be tried not only for theft but sorcery. He'd lose his other hand either way, so what use was it in letting a gift like his waste away.

The main thoroughfare was decidedly empty, just the darkened caravans of a few merchants scattered around the abutting square. He stepped silently out and crossed the street to them. The street lamps flickered, newly-installed electricity that made something in his stomach squick. Real lamplight was easy enough to snuff out with a bit of magic, but these were stubborn. It made his lifestyle that much harder. The way of thieves was going, one of his patrons had said as he admired a ruby Ranboo had nicked. He took issue with that statement, but sometimes he understood it. 

Ranboo slid up against the edge of one of the caravans, black and tan, the coloring of a rather nasty faction of traders. There were a few cages stacked outside, thick iron bars casting long shadows across the cobble. There was a jackalope, small and quivering and missing a horn. Beside it, the ashy remains of a distraught pheonix. Another cage, much larger was shrouded in the shadow of the caravan. Ranboo stared quietly into the jackalope's black eyes. What crime had it committed besides his birth? What say did it have in its magic? He pursed his lips. 

"They took it right?" He murmured, gesturing to the horn. "Like some trophy?" The jackalope only stared. How was it to know that he hadn't come to take the other, Ranboo reasoned. He lifted his hand and let the lamplight glimmer across the tarnished metal. "Mine too." His had been for thievery, barely 13 and without any of the sense he had now but gone all the same. 

The pheonix's embers crackled in the adjacent cage and Ranboo toyed with a terrible idea. The creature in the largest cage stirred, just barely and he cocked his head. As he stepped closer, he wished he hadn't. A jackalope was pitiful, sure, but seeing a boy curled up on the steel floor was something more. 

"What have they done to you?" He whispered. The boy lifted his head and Ranboo's breath hitched. He realized then why the boy was packed and parcelled. Two horns sprouted from his mousy hair with a matching set of downy ears. 

The boy eyed him uneasily but sat up. "I'm worth a lot of money you know." Ranboo wanted to laugh, but he barely managed a smile.

"So am I. Bounty's at least fifty."

A bright little laugh interrupted the melancholy on his face. Like one of those little music boxes he'd nicked before. Ranboo brought a hand up to the bars and the boy rose to meet him. He was small, made smaller still by his circumstance. "I'd like to let you out."

"Well unless you've got a lot of money or a key, you won't be taking me home." The little ram retorted.

"What about something better?" Ranboo grinned and gripped the heavy lock. It warmed under his hand, hotter and hotter until it glowed red. With his metal hand, he pried it off, softened metal bending under his touch. He pocketed the evidence quickly and looked back up at the boy. Where he expected gratitude, he saw only fear. His round eyes skittered from Ranboo to the caravan then back to the open square.

"I thought you were joking. I thought you were just teasing." He said, breathing shallowly.

Ranboo's brows drew up. "But don't you want to come out? Aren't you happy to be free?"

"Unlocking a cage doesn't make me free, you idiot." His little fingers closed around the latch though and he pushed it open. "You can hide me somewhere, right? And them too. They've been good company." He motioned towards the other miserable creatures.

"Sure. Yes." Ranboo exhaled, eyes glittering with the prospect of a heist. He knelt, melted off the other two locks and pried open the little gates. The jackalope shuffled out first, meek and wide-eyed. The pheonix was next, ruffling its feathers and shaking off the last of its ash. It made a sharp sound, like rushing air, and its feathers erupted in flames. Without so much as a second glance, it took to the sky, wings beating like the light of a dying star. The night was well and truly upon them and the jackalope didn't seem keen to turn into any of the darkened allies. Ranboo sighed and scooped it up, slinging it into the fold of his tunic.

"I'm Tubbo, by the by." The boy said, stepping through the cage's threshold. His fingers flexed in the cold night air as if feeling it for the first time. "What can I call my tall, dark and handsome rescuer?" It was like a switch had been flipped. The fearful look from before replaced with a bright, sunshiney grin. It set Ranboo's teeth on edge a little. He didn't like to be lied to.

"Ranboo." He replied, scrunching his nose as the jackalope pocked its head out. One of the antlers tickled his chin and he pushed its head back out of sight. "We should go." He said and took one of Tubbo's cold hands in his. "Be quick and quiet." It was a familiar phrase, passed from the mouths of thieves like him. A hello, a good-bye. Be quick and quiet. He wondered if Tubbo had heard it before if he ran with folk like him. He didn't much know of the creature-folk. They weren't native to this corner of the country and he'd only ever seen them heralded as odd attractions or proof of magic's worsening influence on man. Holding his hand, feeling it warm in his own, Ranboo thought he must not be very different. He was just flesh and blood.

They traversed the south quarter with only a few minor hiccups. Ranboo had to tug Tubbo past the wide windows of the cathedral, shushing his protests and watching the stained glass wink out of view. "I've never seen anything like that before." He said reverently, and Ranboo's heart cracked a little.

"They don't much like me there. Nor you." He murmured. "It's a museum for the righteous and nevermind us. We're damned to hell forever."

"Oh." Tubbo's grip loosened and Ranboo squeezed his hand. "Is there any place for you, then?"

"For us. Yeah, that's where we're headed." They crossed from the even cobble of the south into the gravelly, uneven road of the east. Here, life continued past sunset. Windows were thrown open, the day's washing cold and dry on lines that crisscrossed above them. Light spilled out too, and Ranboo got his first real look at Tubbo. He was warm in coloring, with hair like roasted chestnut and blue eyes pretty enough for a doll. And the horns. Even here, they were bad news.

Ranboo tutted quietly and redirected them up a rickety staircase. The uneven causeway that crossed from rooftop to rooftop made navigating the east quarter easier, but it wasn't for the faint of heart. Tubbo's hand slid to his arm and his grip tightened. "I'm really not so good with heights. We're meant for the ground you know." And he was right wasn't he? Tubbo looked born of earth, brown and keen like fresh-turned soil.

"Just step where I step."

"Your legs are too long, I can hardly reach."

"Well try, or you'll see the ground sooner than you'd like." They reached his little attic room with some difficulty. Ranboo was sure his upper arm was going to bruise from Tubbo's grip. He let the jackalope out first, scooping its tired body onto the foot of his cot. It curled in on itself, tired after being on high-alert for so long.

He was too tired to be self-conscious about his living space. It was no better or worse than anybody else in the east, but Ranboo had felt Tubbo's soft un-calloused fingers. They weren't the hands of someone who ran with thieves he'd realized. But here they were. He flicked his finger to light a candle and the room glimmered to life. Trinkets hung from the ceiling, gold and silver and emerald and topaz. Dented things he couldn't pawn off reduced to worthless imitations of stars. Tubbo's eyes widened the same way as they had at the church and Ranboo grinned.

"You like it?"

"I love it." He trailed his finger over a busted locket. "Did you steal all these?"

"Yeah." Ranboo smiled proudly. "Every one." He let himself bask in it for a moment before he started rifling through the steamer trunk at the foot of his cot. He tossed aside shirts and trousers until he plucked out a soft flat cap. He chucked it at Tubbo. "Wear this."

When he turned back, the hat was shoved on over his fluffy hair and Ranboo grinned. "You look dumb."

"I feel dumb." Tubbo laughed, that same musical sound he'd heard before. 

"C'mon. I'll buy you a drink, show you my city." It wasn't the smartest idea, Ranboo reasoned, but as far as he was concerned he'd just pulled off the biggest heist of his life. That at least was worth rewarding.

"Even I know you're meant to buy someone a drink  _ before  _ you take them home." Tubbo grinned up at him.

"Well. Better late than never."

"Alright. Take me out then."

\--

They sipped honeyed mead, sweet and easy. It was cheap and delicious and Ranboo paid for it with stolen coin. The bartender didn't mind though. Taverns here were more concerned with fake currency than stolen. If it was gold, that was what mattered. The tavern was one of several, alike in all but name. A long, wooden bar running down one side and several smaller booths for gambling, meeting and drinking. They were shoulder to shoulder in the furthest one, tiny and clouded in candlelight. 

Tubbo drank the mead like nectar, nose to the tankard and eyes reflecting its golden surface. He was surely one of the best wonders he'd ever stolen, Ranboo thought. And he couldn't even keep him. "So what do you think?" He asked.

"If this is what it feels like to be damned," Tubbo's voice was soft around the edges, "I don't think I mind." He leaned his head onto Ranboo's shoulder and set down his drink.

"A convict and a convert." Ranboo grinned. "I've done well."

Tubbo's hand found his metal one, and he watched as Tubbo manipulated the intricate joints of his fingers. "Can you feel this?"

"No." He smiled quietly. "It's just a piece of tinkering."

"Oh." Tubbo frowned, lacing his fingers through Ranboo's lifeless ones. It made something warm unfurl inside of him. "It's sort of cold isn't it." Ranboo touched his real hand to the metal and let a little head spread from his palm. Tubbo grinned up at him and he matched it. 

They drank in silence and Ranboo tried not to stare at their joined hands. He was used to fascination, curiosity even, but Tubbo's interest seemed to extend beyond that. He understood what it was to be a misfit, Ranboo thought. They had that in common. 

"We should go now before things get too rough in here." He said. Tubbo nodded and watched as he plonked a few extra coins down for discretion. He didn't take his hand back and let Ranboo lead him out the door.

"So," Tubbo started as they made their way across the gables. "Now that you've bought me a drink, you're taking me home?" 

Ranboo chewed his lip and felt his face burn. He was glad Tubbo was behind him, unable to see what he was feeling. "No. Well, yes I'm taking you home. But it's not like that."

"It's not?" Ranboo tried not to read anything into his voice. "I'm a little disappointed." It was teasing, the lilt of Tubbo's he'd come to know that night.

"Well," Ranboo said intelligently as he stepped in through the cracked window of his attic. 

"I must say this doesn't live up to any tales of heroism  _ I  _ know." Tubbo followed him and yanked off the cap. He shook out his tawny hair and Ranboo stared. "Isn't the knight supposed to kiss the damsel and all that?"

Ranboo spluttered. "I mean, yeah. Sure. Sometimes that happens. I guess."

Tubbo stepped closer, eyes catching the reflecting light of his treasures. "What, is it the horns? Should I put the hat back on?"

Ranboo let out an exasperated sigh and kissed the smirk from his lips. Tubbo laughed into his mouth and Ranboo tasted honey. One hand wound into Tubbo's hair, grazing a velvety horn and the other, cold and unfeeling, cradled his freckled cheek. Tubbo didn't flinch at the chill of it, just leaned into the touch. 

When they pulled apart, Tubbo looked dazed, for once with nothing smart to retaliate with.

"Well? Was that good enough?"

"No," Tubbo said and leaned in again.

**Author's Note:**

> this had another ending that i don't have the heart to write.  
> they got caught and ranboo sacrificed himself so tubbo could get away. tubbo hides with the jackalope and then either ranboo returns home missing his other hand or tubbo broke him out of prison.  
> it was already 2k and im tired and i dont write angst lol
> 
> as always, your comments are what keep me writing and i treasure them :)


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